Middle East

World News

British Voters Closer Than Ever To Voting To Quit EU

7:35am September 24, 2015

by Leila Fadel

Public opinion against the European Union is fueled by the region's debt and refugee crises and trade negotiations with the U.S. A referendum is planned for 2017, and many Britons say they want out.

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EU Leaders Debate Program To Address Migrant Crisis

10:54pm September 23, 2015

by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

European Union leaders meet in Brussels to consider sending more money to countries and agencies looking after Syrians in the Middle East, and a plan to deport migrants who don't qualify as refugees.

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EU Leaders Approve Measures To Control Migrant Influx

10:54pm September 23, 2015

by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

For the second night in a row, European Union leaders approved plans aimed at controlling the influx of migrants after previously being deeply divided over a solution.

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World News

Seeking Asylum, A Syrian Woman Struggles To Get Family Out

2:30pm September 23, 2015

Mais Istanbelli left her home in Aleppo before the civil war began Syria. She's in Sweden, but her family is still in Syria. She tells NPR's Scott Simon what she's hearing from her relatives back home.

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U.S. Works To Speed Up Refugee Response

2:25pm September 23, 2015

Anne Richard, the assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, tells NPR's Scott Simon the Obama administration wants to ramp up the number of Syrian war refugees it takes in.

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World News

Russia's Military Deployment In Syria Reignites Contact With U.S.

2:25pm September 23, 2015

NPR's Scott Simon discusses Russia's new military deployments to Syria with Steven Lee Myers of The New York Times. Myers says Russia worries its client, Syrian President Bashar Assad, may soon fall.

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Akhram Zaatari Untitled (Plane 6), 2013, by Akram Zaatari, Lebanon.

For Arab Artists With Something To Say, This Sheikh Is A Loudspeaker

2:19pm September 23, 2015

by Elizabeth Blair

Media personality and art collector Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi spends a fortune on artworks by living, Arab artists; then he shows them to as many people as possible.

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World News

Is Russia's Military Buildup In Syria A Good Thing?

12:06pm September 23, 2015

by Michele Kelemen

President Vladimir Putin says his forces are in Syria to help the country's embattled president to fight terrorists. The U.S. argues that the Syrian president is part of the problem.

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World News

Out Of Egypt, A Massive Pardon Of Political Prisoners

12:06pm September 23, 2015

by Leila Fadel

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has pardoned some 100 political prisoners, including two journalists at Al-Jazeera's English-language network. For more, Renee Montagne talks with Leila Fadel.

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Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy (center) at a court hearing last month. The Egyptian president pardoned him on Wednesday.

World News

Egyptian Leader Pardons Al Jazeera Journalists In Long-Running Case

10:14am September 23, 2015

by Bill Chappell

Undoing a three-year prison sentence that had drawn protests from media groups, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has pardoned 100 people, including the two journalists.